Somnium enim Fortuna
by hibari heza
Summary: Bulma is a perfectly normal young girl, except for the vivid dreams that she has. She visits strange places in her dreams. But, they are only dreams, right? Then she starts to have recurring dreams of a dark, angry, violent man.
1. Default Chapter

**Somnium enim Fortuna**

**Capitulus Unus**

**Somnium Vita**

**Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or any of its characters, just this story.**

I was ten years old the first time it happened, but it was many years before I knew _what_ exactly was happening. The first night I was in a beautiful place. I was standing on the rocky ledge of a tall waterfall with water the color of my own hair, which, of course, is the most beautiful color in the world. The trees that sheltered this beautiful place were the deep dark red of a burning fire and the breeze that blew through them brought to my nose the sweetest scent I have ever smelled. I'll never forget the sensation of diving into that glorious water; the memory of it has stayed with me, giving me a place of quiet and peace to escape to in my mind whenever things were going badly. I saw many places, although not all were as wonderfully beautiful as the first. I never told anyone of these wonderful experiences, after all, they were just dreams, weren't they?

I lived a perfectly normal life outside of my dreams. Perfectly normal for the rich genius daughter of a genius scientist, that is. My father had made a fortune with his capsule technology, so when I was born, the only life I ever knew was one of privilege and comfort. I was a pampered little thing, protected from the harsh realities of life. But when I was seventeen I had the first dream of _them._

When I opened my eyes that night I was standing in a deserted throne room. It was the largest room I had ever seen, possibly bigger than my whole house. My footsteps echoed through it as I walked around. It looked as if the room was being set-up for some great banquet or the visit of some important dignitary. Or maybe, I thought, I was seeing the court of some handsome young king as they prepared for dinner. I giggled at the thought that he would see me, fall madly in love and demand I become his queen But before he could some bitter rival would set about to have me killed, and my dashing young king would come save me at the last minute. Then we would be married in some fabulously expensive, beautiful wedding and live happily ever after.

That silly fantasy kept me occupied for a whole five minutes. Then I shook it from my head and began exploring again. I happened to pass close to one of the windows and had to stop still. The landscape outside was so harsh and angry that it took my breath away with the starkness of it. It had an almost deathly beauty that fascinated me even longer than my silly fantasy had. I stood there at the window for a time, watching as the blood red sun set over the distant hills. I don't know how long I stood there before a slight noise began to penetrate my mind. It slowly grew louder and I recognized it as the sound of voices raised in what could only be rage. I had no desire to be found by someone in the throes of anger so I skittered across the floor as fast as I could and hid quickly in a dark corner.

Just in time. The doors across from the throne flew open and a man hardly older than me stormed into the room. I could almost literally see the clouds as they swarmed around his head. The first impression that I had of him was that this was not a man to be messed with. The second impression that filtered through my worry of being discovered was that this man was pretty fucking handsome. And his body, well, let's just say I hadn't ever seen such a fine specimen before. I was leaning forward slightly, trying to watch him as he stalked across the room. When he reached the first set of tables he whipped around and I almost didn't make it back into my shadow, but I was certain he hadn't seen me. He glared angrily at the man who had followed him; I hadn't really paid attention to the older man when he walked in, but I could see that he was obviously the younger one's father. They were both dressed in some type of armor, so I wondered if they were soldiers.

They glared angrily at each other for several minutes before the young one spoke.

"I already told you that I don't care what the fuck you promised that damned lizard. If you expect me to be his servant then you can kiss my ass!"

"And I told you that I'm tired of listening to your whining boy! I will hear no more on this subject. When he gets here you will do as you are told. Be prepared."

With that the older man turned and swept out of the room, leaving me alone with the angry young man. He stared after the door for several minutes, clearly trying to rein his temper in. I continued to watch him from my dark corner, feeling a little more nervous of discovery with ever moment spent in his presence. He turned after a time and walked over to the banquet tables, pulling out a chair and slamming it down on the ground with enough force to shatter the offending furnishing. Clearly he hadn't yet managed to calm down. I leaned back into my corner, prepared for a long wait. I never knew how long I would be in any one place, but I had a feeling I was no where near done with this episode.

I was just beginning to relax in my hiding spot when I realized that not only had the young man's destruction stopped but I couldn't hear him anymore. I thought perhaps he had left the room and I hadn't noticed. I leaned forward slightly and just about died of shock when my eyes connected with his. He smirked the evilest smile I had ever seen at me then reached out and grabbed my arm, yanking me from my corner and shoving me indecorously towards the middle of the room.

"Well, what the fuck are you doing? Are you a spy for _him?_" he asked me angrily. I didn't know who he was talking about, probably the same 'him' he had been referring to with the older man.

"I don't know who you mean." I told him in a voice which, regretfully, wavered uncontrollably. The obvious fear I displayed only seemed to delight him further. He didn't reply to me, I think he believed me but he didn't want to let me off that easily. I tried to steady my resolve as he stepped closer to me. All thoughts of appearing brave fled from my mind when he wrapped his hand around my throat. I knew then that he was going to kill me, and he'd do it without even a second thought. Just as I felt myself suffocating I opened my eyes and there I was, back safe and sound in my bed at home. I was never more relieved to be out of my dreams in my life. I had dreamed of many strange things over the years, but none that had terrified me to the degree this one had. I could only hope this was the last time I would have that particular dream.

Unfortunately for me the lifetime of that hope was somewhat short. It was not quite a year later that I was opening my eyes to find myself in what was someone's personal bedroom. It was empty, for which I was relieved. I stepped quickly to the door, intending to make my escape. I pulled the door open and discovered that I was actually in an apartment. It was much the size of my own suite of rooms at home, except that the furnishings were stark and plain. I had personally decorated my room to my own opulent tastes and I couldn't imagine living in a place such as this. I made my tentative way across the living room but my eyes were drawn to the large window that occupied one of the walls. Outside I could see nothing but darkness and small points of light. After careful inspection I came to the conclusion that I appeared to be on some sort of space craft and was indeed looking out into the vast reaches of space. I was entranced by the myriad colors that the stars could take. It was wonderful, looking at them from aboard this ship rather than through my telescope at home.

I'm afraid I spent more time looking out the window than I should have. I was still lost in my reverie when I heard the door in the wall opposite slide open. I quickly ducked behind the couch next to me, intending to make my escape from these quarters if I was lucky enough and the person just walked on into their bedroom.

"One day I'm going to kill that fucking bastard!"

"You wish; Prince Vegeta is the one who'll kill him. And I'll be very happy when he does. Just let me get in a couple of hits before you totally annihilate him."

"You weaklings will be lucky if you're even still alive by then. Now get the fuck out and leave me alone."

Fuck! I knew that voice. I couldn't be back with that maniac, could I? I inched forward a tiny bit, intent on seeing the speakers. I could just barely make out the face of the first speaker, it wasn't the same man I remembered but he was dressed in much the same manner the man had been. Clearly these were his co-patriots. Well, this was fucking great. It was only a matter of time before that man realized I was here.

"Fuck Vegeta, just because Frieza made you kiss his ass toda-"

The man never got to finish what he was saying as Vegeta, for that was undeniably who the man was, hit him so hard in the stomach that he flew back _through_ one of the other doors. I watched this with wide fearful eyes. I had instinctively known the man was dangerous but I had no idea he had so much strength. I wanted out of the room desperately but there was no way I could make it past the three men and outside. The second man shook his head and picked his companion up.

"Nappa, you're a mindless dimwit."

They walked outside, the smaller man dragging his companion along behind him. I wanted to breathe a small sigh of relief; after all, this meant they weren't going to be fighting violently around me. However, this now left me with nothing to distract Vegeta from my presence. I felt it the minute he realized I was there. It was like a subtle thickening of the air.

I thought he would command me to show myself, but instead he walked silently over to the couch, reached over it and dragged me up, pulling me over the couch towards him. I was trying very hard not to tremble, but the man scared the hell out of me.

"You again?"

He had released my arm but was now holding me near him by the front of my shirt. I couldn't force myself to breathe in enough air to respond to him. Once again that cold smirk crossed his face as he looked at me. His eyes roamed over my body. I was wearing one of my tight fitting sleep outfits, just a pair of dark blue shorts and a white tank top. I was starting to catch my breath a little but the look in his eyes was making me nervous. I was even starting to wish he would just threaten to kill me again and stop staring at me like that.

"So, are you one of Zarbon's whores then? Did he send you here to spy on me? I'm not a fool…and as intriguing as your looks are, I wouldn't want anything that Zarbon has put himself in."

I was blushing furiously by the time he finished this little speech. My desire to hurt this arrogant little prick almost overwhelmed me.

"I am no one's whore you moronic jackass!"

He stared at me for another moment before another smirk crossed his face.

"Well, the little slut has some spunk. Whoever would have thought? If you're not a whore then what are you? And why are you in my quarters?"

"I'm a human and I don't know what I'm doing here…I just...found myself here…"

The explanation sounded lame even to my ears.

"Didn't get enough of my magnificence last year, is that it? You came to find me, hoping I'd fulfill you're dirty little fantasies? Well, you might have exotic looks, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lower myself to anything as weak as you."

I fumed silently at the renewed insults. But there really wasn't anything I could say to that. I had no explanation to give him as to how I was in his room. And what's more, I had finally remembered who I was talking to. This man could kill me easily.

"Although…"

He released my shirt and stepped back, looking me over once again. The look in his eyes still confused me. It wasn't the angry bloodthirsty look I'd seen before he tried to kill me the last time. The look, however, knocked my breath away just as effectively. He reached for me again, pulling me tight against his body. I was about to ask him what he was doing but when I opened my eyes, I was back in my room. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was just another dream. Dawn was just breaking through my windows and as I reached out to close my blinds something made me stop. I could see my knees were developing bruises, as if I had smacked into the back of a hard object. I let my eyes drift from my knees to my outstretched hand, and sure enough, there were his hand prints splayed across my white skin.

A/N: Ok, so that was the first chapter. Let me know what you think. Should I continue? Was it worthless crap that I should toss into a trash bin and never look at again? Let me know. Thanks in advance for any nice comments, and boo in advance to any not nice comments. scampers off to work on TCDB


	2. Terra Defluo Mirus

**Somnium enim Fortuna**

**Capitulus Duo**

**Terra Defluo Mirus**

**A/N: Ok, so I lied, I haven't worked on TCDB at all. Shame shame shame on me. Oh well, here's another chapter of SeF for your viewing (dis?)pleasure.**

I was sitting in the kitchen sipping at my third cup of coffee when my mother flounced into the room. There was really no better way to describe her flamboyant way of moving. She was almost never unhappy and so everywhere she went she went with that same excess of spirit. Most days I found it amusing and cheerful. Today I wished that at least a small part of the cloud over my head could have found its way to her. But no such luck, I was doomed to pretend interest in her prattling happy nonsense.

"Bulma dear, how long have you been awake?"

"A couple of hours. Mom, is Dad up yet?"

"Yes honey, he's packing up the car. I thought I'd make him a good breakfast before we set off today. Why were you up so early dear?"

I stared dumbly at my mother for a full minute before I realized what she was talking about. Tomorrow was their anniversary and they were going on a trip to the Mediterranean to celebrate. Shit! There wouldn't be any time to talk to my father before they left. Well, they would only be gone for two weeks; it wasn't likely I would have another dream of _him _before they came home. I would just have to try and figure it out on my own until then.

I mumbled an excuse, which she didn't hear, and she turned back to what she was doing on the stove. I looked over at the clock on the wall. They would have to leave for the airport in a few minutes if they expected to get through customs and security in time. There was definitely no chance of talking to my father. But still, I pushed myself off my barstool and went outside. I had the small hope that being around him for a few minutes would help to settle my nerves so that I could approach this problem in a more scientific way.

"Hi honey, you're up early. Couldn't sleep?"

I smiled at my father. As much as I loved my mother, there was no denying that I was a daddy's girl.

"Hey Dad, just about ready to go?" I decided to ignore his question for the time being.

"Yes, we'll leave just as soon as your mother gets out here. What is she doing anyway?"

"Making you a breakfast."

We continued to chitchat for a few minutes. Our talk soon drifted to science, as it always did, and my father's latest experiments. He had recently become fascinated with space exploration and had slowly been building his own space ship. Not that he ever intended to go into space. He felt he was too old for that kind of adventuring. I had had the secret ambition to take the ship myself. But now…

I was just toying with the idea of showing the bruises to my father when my mother came out the door. My father immediately set about hustling her into the car. After several teary good-bye hugs and kisses they took off. I watched them drive through the gates of CC with a deep sense of foreboding permeating my body.

I spent the next several days tinkering around in my lab. I, so far, hadn't figured out my dream dilemma so I turned my mind towards my other projects in the hopes that some mental distance would bring me some new insight. I had never before realized how big and lonely the house was. And without my mother there to cook I quickly realized how little of her talent I had inherited. After two days of my failed attempts, my 'cooking' became speed dialing for take-out.

It was at midnight near the end of the two weeks and I was counting down till the day my parents came home. I was sitting up eating leftover pizza and watching a romantic movie on the TV. I never even felt myself drift to sleep. One second I was watching Sandra Bullock talking to some cute American actor, the next second I was standing on a deserted hill in the middle of a wasteland.

I stared around me, not quite awake enough yet to realize what had happened. It wasn't the kind of wasteland that looks as if it's taken nature millenniums to create. It looked like something catastrophic had happened here, and very recently. Having nothing better to do (I had no idea at that time how to bring myself back from these dreams) I started down the hill. At the bottom of the hill I stopped to look around me again. From the heights the whole land had looked like a burned out desert. From down here, I could still see a few plants here and there struggling in the scorched earth. Overall, everything in this land had been destroyed, and it seemed to go on for miles in all directions.

Perhaps a fire had raged through, or a comet had hit the planet and this was part of the radius. Whatever had happened, I wasn't likely to find out standing there. Unfortunately for me, my innate scientific curiosity overrode any and all caution I should have shown. Picking a random direction, I started walking, collecting specimens of the destruction as I went along and placing them safely in my capsules. After half an hour of walking along in this fashion I came to a large river. The water was running swiftly, but it was spoilt with mud and debris. I turned and followed the river, hoping that farther up there would be a stream or at least a portion of the river unsullied by the detritus of this devastation, for now that I had been actively exerting myself I was becoming very thirsty very quickly.

I stumbled through a rocky defile, the river no longer in my sight but certainly within my hearing. Out the other side I tripped and fell, cutting one of my knees open on a jagged rock. I barely noticed. Standing in front of me, between the river and myself, was that same cocky jackass that had plagued me twice already. He held in his hands a man that, from the looks of it, no longer resided in the land of the living. However, Vegeta was still verbally taunting and threatening the man. To the side of him stood a small boy, watching this whole exchange with no expression on his face.

This was the first time that Vegeta had failed to notice my presence within any appreciable amount of time. It was actually the boy who noticed me first. I saw his focus shift and knew he was looking at me. His eyes widened but that was all. It was enough. Vegeta's eyes followed the boys' line of sight and when his eyes focused on me I felt a chill run through my body. That self-same evil smirk crossed his face; I was beginning to wonder if that was the only expression that he was capable of holding for long periods of time. He dropped the man on the ground and walked towards me.

A guilty look crossed the boys face as if he alone had been responsible for the situation I know found myself in…again. Vegeta stopped in front of me and grabbed my arm, picking me up off of the rocks and dragging me forward into the clearing. He ignored the boy and I found I had no time to spare him any more attention at that moment.

"So, my little mystery stocker has shown herself again has she? This is getting to be quite a habit with you. I want to know who you are and how you keep disappearing like that."

I looked up into his eyes, trying to read the emotions that should have been present in his eyes. Vegeta had none. I shook myself, choosing to look at his armor rather than risk losing myself in those dark eyes. I'd always liked the bad boys, but he was probably a lot more than I could ever hope to handle.

I felt his grip tighten on my arm and realized that I hadn't yet answered his questions. Or said anything, for that matter.

"Well, Vegeta, I don't know how I keep getting here with you. It's like some cosmic force wants me to keep running into you, though for the life of me I don't know why."

I could just see his mouth in the corner of my eyes, now it tightened into a derisive smile.

"You expect me to believe that you have followed me on three separate occasions and have no idea how you got here? We'll put aside your cosmic force nonsense. There is no all-powerful force that rules the universe…other than Frieza. And I intend to deal with him just as soon as I have the power to do so. So now, what are you really doing here?"

"Maybe she's telling the truth Prince Vegeta. Maybe she doesn't know."

"You dare speak to me without permission!" He released my arm and turned immediately on the boy.

I had a brief thought about trying to run, but didn't think I'd get very far if I did. Besides, the boy had tried to defend me; I couldn't just leave him alone to face the consequences. Clearly Vegeta didn't like this small child. He stalked to him angrily and I realized that if I didn't do something quick Vegeta might kill this poor kid, the only one I'd seen who was brave enough to stand up to Vegeta.

"Vegeta! Don't you dare touch him!" I shrieked, forcing as much of my normal asceticism into my tone as possible. I wanted his attention back on me, no matter how relieved I was to have had it shift away. But after all, if things went the way they normally went in my encounters with Vegeta, I would be waking up at home sometime soon.

Vegeta stopped as I yelled at him and ever so slowly turned towards me. The almost playfully evil smirk that normally graced his features when he looked at me was gone. He was absolutely furious. I knew now what it meant to have the full force of his anger pointed at you. I wanted very much to disappear. I'd like to say it was bravery that kept me standing there, staring him defiantly in the face. The truth is, I was completely frozen in fear. Before Vegeta could take even a step towards me the boy darted around him and grabbed my hand, yanking my attention away from Vegeta.

Breaking free of that terrifying gaze was like being slammed forcefully into my body. I shuddered for a moment but the tableau seemed to be broken. Vegeta leveled his glare at the child but spoke to me.

"No one, NO ONE orders me around!"

The child was subtly trying to push me behind him, millimeter by millimeter, such small increments I hardly would have noticed if I hadn't felt him shifting in front of me. I was terrified that this would break into an all-out brawl and I knew what the outcome would be. I shut my eyes, trying to blot out my visions of this horrible landscape and equally horrible encounter. When I opened my eyes again, I was sitting back on my couch at home. The TV had long since passed the romantic movie and moved on into B rated horror. I was not in the mood for that, so I moved to get the remote. As I did I noticed the shape highlighted by the fitful light of the TV. The little boy had come home with me.

**A/N: Ok, here's a second chapter. I'm surprised that I finished this…I guess the metro link really will give me more time for writing. Let's hope this keeps up. I'm going to give you guys a sneak preview of the newest story I began writing today…it was slow at work and I had nothing to do. Heh. I know, you're wondering why I didn't work on some of the stories I've already got in the frying pan…well, the simple answer to that is that, those stories aren't on my work computer, nor can I turn my laptop on at work. So, there you go, I started yet another new one. Let me know what you think.**

mustang07: Thanks! Umm…is this sort of soon enough?

Spini: Thank you, I'm delighted you think so. I'm always happy to hear praise.

dagworth: Thanks. Well, hopefully you like the second chapter too.

Qu3st: Thank you. The smiley face makes me feel good. Hee

Cindy: Mysterious huh? Cool, that's what I was going for. Thanks!

Sara: Thanks! Umm, I'm going to assume this is soon enough. Hopefully…

PrplButrfly: Thanks a lot. I hope you get your Internet back sometime soon…you may

have already gotten it back. Heh

vegetas-mate2: Hee, well, here ya go. I hope you don't think I stopped at too horrible of a

place.

The trial was still ongoing, but she couldn't stand to hear anymore of it. They were going to convict him; she knew it. There was nothing she could do about it. She walked out of the courthouse into the blinding white light of a snow-covered day.

Tugging her jacket closer about her face she turned into the wind and headed north, towards the only solace she could expect to find on a bitter day such as this. The saloon was almost empty as she sidled up to the bar. The bartender gave her a disgusted look but proceeded to pour her favorite drink anyway. Women like her didn't frequent these parts, and it was plain to see that the folks around here preferred it that way. Still, the bartender was hard up enough not to refuse her money and that's all that mattered to her. She intended to get herself very thoroughly drunk before noon. If she spent the rest of the day passed out in her room she wouldn't see the end. He would understand, he wouldn't have wanted her there anyway.

About halfway through her fifth shot of whisky the door suddenly slammed open. The freezing air that raced down the neck of her jacket almost brought her out of the drunken stupor she was just beginning to achieve. Pissed as all hell she gestured to the bartender to pour her another one huddled closer in her jacket. The barstool next to her slid on the floor as the newcomer pulled it away from the counter. She peered at him blearily for a minute but she couldn't focus enough on him to make it worth the effort. Besides, the bartender had just lined up her sixth and seventh drink. She was about ready to call it quits for the morning but it didn't matter. She downed the last two, stumbled out of her chair and up the stairs to the second floor.

The next thing she remembered was waking up in an unfamiliar place. It looked much the same as her room, except that her clothes weren't thrown all about the place. Nope those pants dangling from the top of the chandelier definitely weren't hers. She sat up cautiously in the bed, but a quick pat down showed her that all of her clothing was still covering her.

"Oh, so you're awake now are you?"

Her gaze darted quickly to the far corner where the voice had come from. A young man with spiky black hair raised himself up from a seat and stood to look at her.

"You don't look too worse for the wear. You damn near crashed down those stairs though. Might have smashed your head open."

She sighed and wished for a moment that he hadn't saved her. However, _he_ wasn't worth her dying. Not really. Oh, she'd loved him all right, but through the haze of her pain and the alcohol she knew that it wasn't a life shattering kind of love. She'd move on in time.

"Who are you?' She managed to croak out through her chapped lips.

"My name's Goku. You're welcome to stay here as long as you want. You don't look too ready to be out on your own yet."

She studied him thoughtfully. He seemed one of those really nice but not too terribly bright types. He was handsome, sure, but he certainly wasn't her type. No, her type usually ended her in a lot of trouble. He looked the type that never crossed even a toe over the line.

"What time is it?" She asked, wondering if it was still early enough that she might just stay in bed or if it was late enough to venture out.

"Almost sundown. You slept for quite some hours."

Damn! It wasn't quite late enough yet. Well, she'd simply have to go to her own room and nurse her hangover. Or maybe she'd go downstairs and get a bottle of scotch…yeah, that sounded good.

She lowered her legs over the side of the bed and carefully stood up, testing her weight. She didn't seem to be too dizzy. Well, the scotch would fix that.

"Thanks for your help Goku…I'm much obliged."

"He doesn't have to die today. We could help him."

She stopped with her hand gripping the doorknob. Did she hear him right? How the hell did he know anyway?


	3. Parvulus Ignotus

**Somnium enim Fortuna**

**Capitulus III**

Parvulus Ignotus 

A/N: Ok, so how did everyone like the second chapter? I hope you all did. I know the 'dream, meet Vegeta, go home, dream, meet Vegeta…' thing must be getting old…well, that's what the plot development was BUT now we should be moving on to other stuff…You might have guessed that by the addition of the little boy at the end of the last chapter.

I could only stare in shock. How the hell had this child gotten here? Could I have brought...him…with me? He looked around curiously at our surroundings, but not with any seeming surprise.

"Wow, thanks for bringing me with you. How'd you do it?"

Now that we weren't in the vicinity of Vegeta I had the leisure to examine him. He had a very pleasant sort of face, friendly, and trusting, which one wouldn't expect in a compatriot of that villain.

"I don't know. I used to think I was just dreaming. I guess you're irrefutable proof that they weren't just dreams."

"Oh, what's that mean? Where are we?"

I sighed, I never had spent a lot of time around children, I just couldn't communicate with them on the appropriate level for their intelligence…and I had a feeling this kid was going to be worse than most kids.

"We're in my home. On my home planet, Earth."

"Oh, I've heard of this planet. Frieza doesn't think it's much worth anything right now. You're lucky. So you must have some kind of teleporting ability. I wish I could do that, it would be neat."

"That could explain it, I suppose. I don't know. It only happens in my sleep, and not at my direction…umm…are you hungry?"

I noticed his eyes shifting towards my mostly empty pizza box. I suppose Vegeta hadn't allowed him to eat. He was probably starving.

"What is it? Can I have it? This is great! Do you have more?"

I watched him gobble down the last fourth of my large pizza before I could even respond. I led him to the kitchen, wondering if he normally ate so much or if Vegeta had just been starving him for that long. His eyes opened wide when he saw the fridge and he dove right in gleefully. I was definitely going to have to have the housekeeper buy more groceries tomorrow…maybe a larger fridge would be a good idea too.

When he was finally done eating he lay back against his chair and regarded me sleepily. It was still in the very early hours of the morning, so I led him to a spare bedroom, directing him on the use of the intercom in his room. As I crashed into my bed, it occurred to me that this child had just eaten my home empty, and I hadn't even asked his name yet.

In the morning he was already waiting in the kitchen when I got up. The first thing I made sure to do was ask him his name. He said it proudly, jumping up to stand on his chair. His armor was off, and for the first time I saw the little furry appendage that stuck out of his backside. My eyes almost bulged out of my head. Granted, he was an alien species, but he had seemed human enough.

"Kakarot, is that a tail?"

"Of course, don't you humans have tails?"

I shook my head and told him we didn't. But his attention quickly focused away to the food that I was pulling out of the cupboard. I guess the best way to get his attention was to address his stomach. Well, that could always be handy information. I was tempted to try my cooking again and see how he liked it…seemed like he would eat anything.

A couple of hours later, after he had finished throwing up and had demanded something that I _hadn't_ cooked, we finally sat down to talk. His tale was a long time in the telling, amazing considering how young he was.

"So this Frieza controls most of the known universe? Amazing? Why hasn't he come after Earth."

"Oh, he doesn't think Earth is worth the effort, you humans are so weak he could pick you all off easily anytime he wanted."

Well that comment pissed me off, but I wasn't quite willing to challenge him to a fight to try and disprove that. Besides, I was gifted with a brilliant mind; I didn't need large muscles.

"Well, I bet my father and I could come up with some really nifty machine to prove otherwise to him, but it sounds like we'd do better to keep his notice away from us. Well, I suppose you'd like to go home?"

"Well, I suppose I should…Prince Vegeta is always telling me I owe it to my race to fight since we're some of the last ones."

"The last ones? What happened to the rest of the Saiyajins?

"Frieza destroyed the planet and killed off all the rest. Prince Vegeta wasn't too sorry to see his father go, but the rest…well, it would be a lot easier to get rid of Frieza if we had them."

"Which is no doubt why Frieza did it…a whole planet? Who the hell did he manage that? He must have some incredible weapons." The image of a DeathStar like ship flashed into my mind. I wondered if fact could really copy fiction like that.

"Nah Bulma, he did that with his own two hands. He's really strong."

At first that didn't quite sink into my brain. His own hands? How the hell could that be possible? No one could destroy a planet with their own hands…how big was this guy? Some of my doubt must have shown on my face. Kakarot jumped up and dragged me outside. He pointed to a section of the compound wall and told me to watch. I did so obediently, not understanding what was going to happen.

He did some strange gesture accompanied with equally strange words and suddenly a beam of energy shot forward from his hands and destroyed the section of the wall…rather a larger section than he had indicated…my jaw dropped. What the hell?

"Kakarot? How did you do that? And how the hell do you propose to pay for the damages to the wall?"

"I used my Ki…you have some too, but yours isn't very well developed, so you wouldn't be able to do something like that."

"I wouldn't want to- wait. Can Vegeta do things like that?"

"Oh sure, he's even stronger than me."

"Oh…" I suddenly felt a little sick. Vegeta's danger level just tripled in my mind. I'd known he could kill me easily, but I'd no idea just how easily.

"And Frieza is even stronger? Holy shit…it's no wonder he's been subjugating the universe…"

I was about to ask Kakarot something when I heard the familiar rumble of my parent's air jet landing in the courtyard. Shit! No time to do anything about the wall, or about the weird alien kid I had brought home with me. Well, it was past time I had a talk with my father anyway. I rushed around the CC building and sprinted straight towards the car just as it settled in place. My mother jumped out of her side to give me a quick hug before bustling off to find one of the keeper robots. My father climbed out a little more decorously, although that was ruined by my jumping him for a hug. I had missed my dad inordinately while they were away…I _was_ a daddy's girl after all.

I was listening to my father describe their trip when Kakarot showed up, his tail waving in the air. My father stopped, looked him over carefully and then looked to me, waiting for an explanation. I sighed; finally I would have my father here to help me.

We went into my father's lab and I explained everything to him, even showing the cut I had received on my knee the other night. He never doubted me; Kakarot was really all the hard evidence I needed. When I was done my father sat back and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. After several minutes of silence his gaze dropped down to Kakarot and then back to me. I could tell he was formulating a plan but I had the sudden feeling it was a plan I wasn't going to like.

"Well, it seems to me that you ought to take him back to space."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because you're the one that brought him here. Besides, someone has to bring the space ship back after he's been dropped off. I've been wanting to test it and this is the perfect excuse."

"You're…going to use me as part of your experiment? What if Vegeta kills me?"

"Oh I doubt that, it seems to me he would have done so already if he really intended to. Besides, I didn't say you had to take him to Vegeta. You just have to take him to some weigh station and then come home. So, now that that's settled, we'll start getting the ship ready. And we'll need to monitor your sleep from now on…it seems certain you've some strange gift that we need to understand. I wonder if we could learn to control it…"

I stared at my father in shock. Could he really be serious? He was going to send me out into space with only a small child to protect me…now I sort of wished I hadn't told him. I didn't want to go into space.

With my father's usual efficiency we were ready for traveling within the week. My mother was upset at first, but my father managed to convince her of his plan…and so my last hope of salvation was dissolved.

I sat on my balcony watching the sunrise. I hadn't been able to sleep and now I watched as the time slipped away. Any minute now my father would send us off…it was a bad dream I wasn't waking from. As the sun rose and seemed to settle atop the Capsule Corp. fence I resigned myself to my fate. I saw my father walk outside and so I went downstairs and joined him. Kakarot was bouncing around happily by the ship. He was eager to get back into space…even though that meant he was going back under the control of Frieza…I didn't understand the strange little alien child.

My mother came out and gave me a box of her special cookies, a hug and a kiss from my parents and in minutes we were ensconced safely in the ship. I started the lift-off sequence and away we went. As we left Earth's atmosphere I looked back on my planet longingly…I had no idea then of the hardships I would endure to get back.

**A/N: Woo! Another chapter! It's amazing what boredom and a long train ride can make happen. Well, I hope you enjoy! Please review. And as always, if you would like to be put on the mailing list for this story, simply leave your e-mail address in a review. Or, you can send an e-mail to with the story name in the subject line. **


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